COVER: Texas State University police issued an emergency alert this morning after a bull wandered around campus for about 20 minutes before being rounded up by police, animal control officers and a crew of cowboys. PHOTO by STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ VIA TWITTER

by JON WILCOX

A runaway bull wandered onto campus around 11 a.m. Wednesday before being captured by local police, animal control and cowboys.

The black bull appeared to weigh “several thousand pounds” and posed a potential threat to the public, university spokesperson Jayme Blaschke said. No injuries to the bull or bystanders were reported.

“The bull seems to be in good spirits,” Blaschke said. “The bull did not seem to be particularly aggressive.”

After learning of the bull’s presence, university police responded immediately by securing parts of West Campus and issuing an emergency alert via email to students, faculty and staff, Blaschke said.

The bull left campus by 11:17 a.m., according to an emergency email alert. The animal wandered into a greenbelt area near Hillcrest Drive before it was picked up by “cowboys” with a cattle trailer, Blaschke said.

University police do not yet know where the bull came from or how it got onto campus, Blaschke said.

The bull might have decided to take a campus tour because “Sewell Park is lovely this time of year,” Blaschke said.

Blaschke said the alert may have sounded funny but the potential danger was real.

“It’s like we’re waiting for the punchline,” Blaschke said.

JON WILCOX reports for The University Star, the student newspaper of Texas State University, where this story was originally published. It is made available here through a news partnership between the University Star and the San Marcos Mercury.